Body Swap
by septasonicxx
Summary: Darcy Hunter gets a detention with Draco Malfoy and they spill a cauldron... what does the potion do to them? Makes them swap bodies of course! Now they have to survive as the other person for three months while Snape brews an antidote.
1. Potions and Cauldrons

Okay. Let me just start by telling you that it was _not_ my fault that the cauldron spilt. Seriously, if anyone is to blame it's Draco Malfoy, so while you're in the mood you can point your finger in his direction.

Let's see, it was during the Potions class that morning that Malfoy and I had gotten into a bit of an argument (which was completely pointless and I don't even remember what it was about, although it could have been about his hair or something silly like that).

Professor Snape put us on detention simply because we were being really noisy and annoying him to _death_. And when I say that, I don't mean it in a literal term – although it comes close. If we really were annoying him to death I'm sure he would've turned grey on the spot.

But that's beside the point!

That night Malfoy and I met up in the Potions classroom for our detention, and Snape told us we were going to be putting some potions that had been left over from another class into bottles to then go into the cupboard.

I bet this sounds easy to you, right? Because it sure sounded like a piece of cake to me.

Anyway, Malfoy and I started getting bottles together and scooping the potions into them carefully so that we didn't spill any. At this point we had no idea what any of them did, so the caution was also because we didn't want to suddenly turn into mountain goats.

Don't. Ask.

It was when Malfoy reached over to scoop out some potion which _I_ was scooping first that the accident happened. Our bottles clashed together and in our frantic attempt to remove them before causing any serious damage we succeeded in tipping the cauldron off the desk and onto the floor.

Yes, I know. Heavy cauldron practically _nailed_ to the desk managed to fall. I suppose we're just really talented.

Anyway, when that happened I screamed loud enough to wake the entire castle. Who knew what the potion that was currently swimming around my feet could be?

Malfoy did some sort of weird dance to try and get it away from him, but it was already all over the bottom of his pants and... sinking through the material?

I quickly looked down at myself again and was horrified to see that the potion was sinking through my shoes as well. Strangely, I couldn't feel anything sticky or wet, and as I watched the entire potion disappeared in a matter of seconds.

Malfoy and I stared at each other in confusion (I'm happy to admit Malfoy looked a lot more horrified than I did) and then Snape came striding over to find out what had happened.

As soon as he saw which cauldron had tipped he began to panic and asked us many times if we felt okay. Malfoy begged him to tell us what the potion was for, but Snape insisted that as long as we were okay it didn't matter.

Ha. Never listen to a teacher if they say that to you.

It. Is. A. Lie.

Repeat: IT IS A LIE!

Sure, the both of us felt fine and dandy (except Malfoy was still panicking) but as soon as we moved to head out of the classroom I felt the world spin and closed my eyes to try and make it stop. Hearing Malfoy gasp and stagger told me that it had happened to him as well.

The next thing I knew I opened my eyes and I was sitting on the floor against the leg of one of the tables.

Wasn't I supposed to be closer to the door...?

Looking up, I gasped in shock as I saw myself standing closer to the door and looking back at me with wide eyes. Had the potion cloned me? Was I even the real me? What was going on?

...Why was I wearing pants instead of a skirt?

"P-Professor!" the other me stuttered, slowly raising a hand to point at me.

"I see. I thought this might happen." Snape said with a sigh.

"What exactly is _this_?" I asked, and gasped again when I realised my voice was much deeper than I remembered. Lifting my hands up to my face, I almost fainted as I saw the long, pale fingers of Draco Malfoy.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. Draco Malfoy and I had swapped bodies.

Snape then took a long time explaining what the potion was and how it worked, also telling us that it had been a seventh year class which had been making it. Apparently it would take him three months to brew up an antidote.

"Why can't we just take more of this potion to make us swap back again?" I asked, confused. It sounded like it should be an easy task, but by the look on Snape's face there was a perfectly good reason why this was not so.

"If you take any more, you will be stuck in the other person's body forever and not even the antidote will work on separating you again." Snape explained slowly.

Well that sucks.

"But, Professor!" Malfoy, currently looking like me, tore his gaze away from me to stare at Snape. The horrified look was still on his – or my? - face.

"I understand your predicament, Mr Malfoy," Snape said in a low voice. "But if we tried to explain it, _he_ may try and think up a spell to try and switch you back without waiting for three months. That could end in disaster. It would be better for you to simply explain everything to Miss Hunter and allow her to carry out the task instead."

Cue headache.

"In the meantime, you will both have to pretend to be the other." Snape said. I could have sworn he looked amused.

"Great, how am I supposed to act like Malfoy?" I asked, and shuddered again as my voice came out as Malfoy's. It was really unnerving.

"I'm supposed to pretend to be _Darcy Hunter_!?" Malfoy roared, and the way he said it made it sound like a bad thing. I quite like being myself, thank you very much!

"Three months is not very long. Now, I do believe you will need to explain everything to Miss Hunter so that she is able to carry out your task for you." Snape said, swishing his wand and making the cauldron which had fallen move back onto the desk.

"What task?" I asked cautiously, pushing myself off the floor to stand up straight.

"Mr Malfoy will explain it to you on your way to your common rooms. You will also need to tell each other the password to get in." Snape said, ushering us out the door and then shutting it firmly.

"Uh-oh." I said. "You? In the _Gryffindor common room_?"

"As horrible as that sounds, it's what we're stuck with. I don't like the idea of you being in the Slytherin common room either, alright?"

I couldn't help but chuckle as I watched myself fold my arms stubbornly.

Reminder: That's Malfoy.

"Fine, the password to the Gryffindor common room is Ashwinder." I said to Malfoy. He smirked – which looked really strange on my face – and nodded.

"The password to the Slytherin common room is Salazar." he told me. "And I'll tell you about the task in a few days time... once you've mastered being me."

"Great, does this mean we're going to have to meet up secretly just to teach each other how to act?" I asked with a slight whine in my voice.

"Yes, but we can start now because dinner isn't for another hour." Malfoy said. "Firstly, you need to learn how to smirk."

"But I never smirk-!"

"This isn't about you!" Malfoy snapped. "Now just give it a try."

I sighed, rolled my eyes, and attempted to smirk. The facial expression which I had hardly ever done before suddenly felt as if I'd been doing it forever and I couldn't help but feel proud.

"How's this?" I asked, folding my arms and leaning against the wall, still smirking.

"Perfect. You look exactly like me." Malfoy nodded his approval.

"Okay, your turn. You need to act bubblier." I instructed him firmly.

"Please tell me you did not just say the word 'bubblier'." Malfoy whispered hopefully, his eyes widened in terror. I laughed and shook my head.

"Do it, Malfoy. If we're going to make this convincing you have to act like me. So laugh, giggle and have some fun!"

Malfoy glared at me for another twenty seconds before he turned his gaze away and started walking off.

"Hey, you don't even look like yourself!" I said, hurriedly rushing to catch up. "No one's going to think you're acting weird unless _I_ can't keep _my_ act up."

"Which you had better do or I'll kill you." Malfoy promised threateningly. I wasn't usually the type of person to make threats, so hearing that from my mouth was really weird and I almost stopped walking again.

"Enough with the threats, Hunter, your pathetic attempts almost make me feel _sorry_ for you." I spat, doing my best at sounding exactly like Malfoy. It had the desired effect. He spun around to stare at me and his mouth was open wide in shock.

After a moment he managed to gather his thoughts and stop gaping. He then tried to pretend he hadn't just been rendered speechless and said, "You're missing the smirk."

I quickly added a smirk to my act and Malfoy nodded in appreciation.

"I suppose you're not as dumb as you look." he commented.

"Seeing as you haven't done anything to prove yourself yet, your dignity still hangs in mid-air." I reminded him. With a quiet growl, Malfoy closed his eyes. He seemed to be trying to summon courage and my thoughts were proven correct when he snapped his eyes open again and smiled widely.

"Hey, Malfoy! How are you? Wow, you look like a Prince today. I can't believe I never noticed how _hot_ you were before!" he rushed out, taking a step towards me and grabbing my – his – cloak.

Laughing, I brushed him off and stepped back.

"Good work, but please don't do that in front of anyone else." I told him, amusement still showing in my eyes.

"But _Malfoy_," he continued, biting his lip. "You actually mean you don't love me too?"

"Quit it!" I snapped, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. "Act like me, okay? Not like _that_!"

"But I _am_ you, Hunter." he whispered, sounding exceedingly pleased with himself. "This is going to be a lot of fun."

Thus began the three months of absolute torture in which I played the role of Draco Malfoy... and he played the role of me.


	2. I need to be Tough

Malfoy and I spent the rest of the hour before dinner teaching each other about our friends.

"You don't hang out with the Pothead gang, do you?" Malfoy had sneered when I brought the topic up.

"Well I'm bound to run into them sometimes, aren't I? There aren't very many of us sixth years in Gryffindor." I explained with a sigh. "But my best friend is Ella Gaston. She's got brown hair which she usually keeps up in a messy bun and her eyes are brown as well."

Malfoy nodded thoughtfully, as if trying to commit it to memory, and I was momentarily proud of his efforts.

"I hang out with Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson and Zabini." Malfoy told me and I raised an eyebrow.

"You call them by their last names?" I asked curiously. This strange habit had never been brought to my attention before, but now that I thought about it he always _had_ called his friends by their last names. Maybe I needed to start taking in more of my surroundings.

"Yes, and that's how you're going to address them as well." he said firmly.

"Okay, I can do that." I nodded. "But you're going to have to call Ella by her first name or she'll think I've gone loopy or something."

"That wouldn't be too bad." Malfoy smirked.

"_Anyway_," I said, folding my arms. "What sorts of things do you talk to your friends about during the day?"

"Whatever they bring up, I guess." Malfoy shrugged. "We like to insult Potter a lot."

"Okay... well Ella and I usually talk about boys." I informed him, and then cringed. I'd forgotten that I would have to tell him this.

"Which ones?" Malfoy asked, so far still appearing unaware of my nerves.

"Sometimes Harry, Dean or Seamus. Ella has a thing for Cormac." I said, conveniently leaving out the name of the guy who I had a crush on.

"Who do you have a thing for?" Malfoy asked and I felt as though I could have screamed again. He just _had_ to do that didn't he?

Oh yeah. And he was smirking again.

Ruining my beautiful face.

Grrr.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid." I ordered, watching him with uncertainty on my face. He just smirked larger and folded his arms – my arms.

I'll never get used to this.

"Malfoy." I growled angrily and he let out a chuckle which sounded strange in my voice.

Truthfully, it was weird saying Malfoy in a voice that was his. It sounded like he was scolding himself.

"Relax, Malfoy," he said sweetly, batting his eyelids at me. "I won't do _anything_ you don't approve of."

What an evil, conniving little brat!

Sure he won't do anything that _Malfoy_ doesn't approve of. He _is_ Malfoy!

"Fine! You win, but only because Ella would be worried if I suddenly stopped being interested in him. Are you ready? I'm only saying it once." I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes in annoyance.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Malfoy." he purred.

I'll kill him, I swear.

"It'sFredWeasley." I blurted out quickly. Normally, when I get embarrassed, my face will flush bright red to show the entire world what I'm feeling.

Apparently, being Malfoy doesn't stop that.

"Oh, gross. You could do way better." Malfoy said, frowning in disgust.

"Look, I don't want your advice on boys okay?" I sighed and looked away from him.

"Fine. Oh and maybe I should warn you Parkinson has a huge crush on me. Just be tough with her and she won't end up kissing you." A smile flickered on his – my – lips in amusement before it disappeared and I knew he would probably die laughing if that ended up happening.

"Thanks for the warning Malfoy, I can be tough." I told him.

"Yeah, along with being bubbly." he snickered.

"Let's just start our act now, okay?" I suggested, letting my arms fall to my sides from where they had been folded. Malfoy sobered up slightly and nodded.

"Alright Malfoy, I suppose I'll have to try and live without you for a while." he said.

This guy is _insufferable_.

"Please don't start drooling, Hunter," I rolled my eyes. "And hopefully we _won't_ run into each other again."

I turned and walked off towards the Great Hall, glancing at Malfoy's watch as I did so to check how long I had. Sure enough, dinner would be starting any minute.

When I entered the Great Hall I had to remind myself not to walk over to the Gryffindor table and instead go to the Slytherins. For a terrifying moment I had no idea where to sit, but then Blaise Zabini had looked up and waved at me to go over to him, so I did.

"Hey Malfoy," he greeted as I slid down beside him.

"Zabini." I nodded at him, thinking that was probably something Malfoy would do and hoping I was right.

"I still can't believe you had to serve detention before dinner just because you had no class at the same time as that girl." Zabini said, shaking his head. "We missed you in the common room. Pansy almost burst out crying when she found out you were in detention and weren't going to be around for her to talk to. How did it go, by the way?"

"Fine," I shrugged. What would Malfoy say about detention? Hmm, he'd probably complain actually. "Except Snape had us emptying the cauldrons into bottles. You don't know boring until you've done that."

Zabini gave a half grin and nodded, buying it. So far, so good.

"Didn't get a chance to hex Hunter, did you?" he asked in a hushed tone.

Okay. That was actually funny. He sounded so serious I thought I was going to bust a lung from laughing.

"No, Snape was watching us like a hawk." I said, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

Zabini then turned to grab some food from further along the table and I took the opportunity to glance over at the Gryffindor table and search for Malfoy. I found him sitting beside Ella and laughing at something. He was doing a really good job!

His eyes – my eyes? - suddenly looked up and met mine and he gave a small smirk before ridding it from his face again.

Wondering how I was going to last three months like this, I turned back to my plate and began eating.

"Drakie!" I looked up suddenly as I heard a voice and saw Pansy Parkinson shoving people in order to sit across from me. Once she was seated she smiled across at me with a sickly sweet smile.

"Hi, Parkinson." I acknowledged her presence.

Be tough. I need to be tough.

"I missed you when you were in detention. Did you hex Hunter for spending more time with you than I was able to?" Pansy asked, blinking her eyes so fast that I wondered whether she might have gotten something in one of them and was trying to get it out.

Nu-uh. She's definitely trying to be cute.

"Had no chance, what with Snape watching so closely and all." I shrugged.

"Do you want me to hex her for you? I can do it after dinner. I'll catch her before she makes it to her common room." Pansy said with a small smile.

"Oh, sure. If you really think you _can_." I said, summoning up a look of doubt to my face. I had no problem with Pansy going to find 'me' in order to hex, as she would only end up hexing Malfoy and I really had no problem with that at all. Payback for anything he would do in the future...

"Of course I can! I'll prove to you that I can do _anything_ for you." she sighed dreamily and leant her head on one hand, staring at me.

Slightly creepy.

Okay, _really_ creepy.

MORE THAN CREEPY!

"Pansy, aren't you hungry?" I asked and instantly yelled at myself mentally for calling her Pansy and not Parkinson. My mistake went unnoticed though as Pansy blinked – as if coming out of a daze – and noticed the food on the table in front of her.

The next thing I knew she had dug into the food and I was free to eat mine without having her watch my every move. Perfect!

Glancing over at Malfoy again, I saw that he had moved his attention to someone further along the table.

Uh-oh.

I followed his eyes to find Fred talking to some of his friends and hoped Malfoy wasn't planning on doing anything crazy. I would kill him a million times over if he did.

Or maybe I'd just torture him for eternity.

"Malfoy, are you okay? You look pretty mad..."

I turned to see Zabini watching me carefully and quickly smoothed out my facial expression. It was amazingly easy to do with my new face.

"I'm fine, just a bit annoyed at Hunter for getting me a detention." I lied with a shrug.

I'm doing a lot of shrugging.

"She probably did it on purpose," Zabini rolled his eyes. "Gryffindors are always looking for ways to get us in trouble even if it means they get detention too."

"Too bad they aren't smart enough to do it _without_ getting detention, like us." I said with a smirk.

Oh come on, Malfoy would say that, wouldn't he? He's stuck up and thinks he's the most amazing thing on the planet, so why wouldn't he think he can get others in trouble without being caught himself?

"You speak the truth!" Zabini chuckled. "A bunch of losers, the whole lot of them."

I nodded silently and went back to eating, hoping that no one would try to talk to me again for the rest of dinner and that I would then be able to get to the common room quickly and lock myself in the dorm.

Too bad I'd have to share a dorm with other Slytherins who would most probably try and talk to me at least once before going to sleep.

"Hey," Zabini said, his voice suddenly a lot quieter and his face showing his seriousness. I raised an eyebrow as I looked across at him and wondered whether he was going to say something funny again.

Oh come on, it was just a thought!

"Are you sure you can't tell me what you're up to? I mean, I can understand why you're not telling Crabbe and Goyle..." Zabini trailed off and waited for a response from me.

Brain is whirring frantically to catch up on what I missed.

What I'm up to... what _is_ Malfoy up to? Is this about the 'task' I'm supposed to do for him? Most probably.

"Sorry Zabini, but I meant what I said. I'm not telling you." I hoped Malfoy _had_ told Zabini he wasn't going to tell him and that it hadn't just been assumed on Zabini's part, but once again he looked convinced, nodding gravely and turning away again.

This was going to be the longest three months of my life.


	3. Boys and Smirks

*Draco Malfoy's POV*

After Hunter walked off to the Great Hall I waited before following her. I didn't want us to enter at the same time because it would look suspicious and people would begin asking questions. Malfoy's didn't go anywhere with Gryffindors.

When I finally made my way over to the Gryffindor table I did my best not to throw up in disgust as I had to walk past Potter – and get this, he waved at me!

If he ever found out he had waved at me, Draco Malfoy, I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate in eating his hat.

It didn't take long before I found Ella Gaston and sat down beside her, doing my best to act natural and not show how uncomfortable I felt.

"Hey, Darcy!" Ella greeted and I quickly smiled back at her.

"How have you been, Ella?" I asked, hoping this sounded like something Hunter would say to her friend. But seriously, who _doesn't_ ask their friends how they are? Even if they don't care what the answer is?

"Good, good." Ella shrugged, turning to search the Gryffindor table.

"Looking for Cormac?" I asked casually, raising an eyebrow. Ella quickly turned back to me and blushed like a tomato, staring down at her plate.

"Say it any louder and I'll kill you." she mumbled.

"Uh, sorry." I managed to say – but it almost killed me getting the words out – and shrugged. "Why don't you just ask him out?"

"Are you _kidding_?" she burst out, her eyes moving up to look at me. "How do you think I'm supposed to stand a chance against Granger?"

The laugh had left my mouth before I could stop it and I promised myself I would be speaking to Hunter later, if only to make her tell me more about what she knew so that I wouldn't suddenly appear stupid to everyone.

"Sorry," I said, biting back more of the laugh. "I just can't believe _anyone_ could like-"

I cut myself off quickly and looked away from Ella. She looked so confused that I almost laughed even more, but managed to hold it in. I was _definitely_ ruining things for Hunter.

Looking up, I saw Hunter looking at me and I smirked before turning away again.

But come on, Cormac Mclaggen liking Hermione Granger? I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that idea is ludicrous. Besides, doesn't the mudblood have a thing for the Weasel?

"Does he know you exist?" I asked Ella, turning back to her. So what if Hunter already knew the answer to this question? She could live with appearing dumb for one day.

"Oh, I was going to tell you! I bumped into him on my way to Potions yesterday!" Ella said excitedly, her eyes lighting up.

"And that is the extent of him knowing you?" I asked monotonously.

You know, this is actually kind of fun. I'll find out more about Gryffindors than ever would have been possible before.

"What do you expect me to say to him, Sherlock?" Ella asked, sounding exasperated. I considered her question seriously for a moment, wondering what Hunter would say in response to that.

Screw Hunter, I'll say what I think.

"Tell him his smile dazzles you and that he's the light of your life." I told her seriously.

"What? You want me to appear desperate?" she gasped.

"Well you are, aren't you?" I asked, frowning slightly. She definitely seemed like she was desperate to be with Cormac, so why didn't she just go grovel at his feet? I mean, girls do it to me all the time.

"Gosh Darcy, you're acting so weird today." Ella said quietly, turning to her food and beginning to eat.

Time to have some fun, don't you think?

"Hey, Ella?" I asked. She looked up from her food but didn't say anything so I continued. "Do you think Malfoy's hot?"

"What?" Ella spluttered, hurriedly trying to swallow her food before she choked and then turning her eyes to the Slytherin table to look at the person in question.

"You heard me." I said.

"Uh, I guess he's not too bad." she said hesitantly. "Why, have you lost interest in..." she lowered her voice slightly. "...Fred and now suddenly realised you have a crush on the Slytherin Prince?"

This is a beautiful day. Even Gryffindors know who I am.

"Yes actually, I have." I said firmly and with a nod to go with it. Ella fixed her eyes on me and I felt a strange urge to get away from her. It felt like I was being read.

Like a book.

Straight through.

Front to back.

"Anyway," I droned in a bored tone. "Fred's a loser."

"Earth to Darcy, have you lost your mind?" Ella asked, beginning to panic. She waved a hand in front of my face and I frowned in annoyance, shifting away from her.

"No, I've just woken up. Fred's a loser and Malfoy's a Prince. Need I say more?" I gave her a pointed stare and she frowned again, staring right back at me.

I have to say, not having people cower in fear when I stare at them is disappointing and I really miss it. Hunter doesn't know what she's missing out on.

But she'll probably find out during these three months.

Looking down the table to spot Fred, I observed him for a moment. He was talking animatedly to his twin and the grins on their faces suggested that they were planning a practical joke. What on earth did Hunter see in him?

Pretty soon my mind had wandered all the way to what I was going to say when she asked about the task which she had to complete for me and I then found myself struggling not to panic.

There was no way Hunter would agree to do it. She was a Gryffindor! She'd rather die than carry it out.

But maybe Snape would be able to convince her to do it. It wasn't very likely, but we'd have to try anyway. I didn't particularly like the idea of having the Dark Lord experiment with spells just to put us back in our right bodies – which he would inevitably do if we told him of our predicament.

"Darcy?"

Realising I was being spoken to, I turned back to Ella. She looked worried and I wondered why. Didn't Hunter ever space out? She seemed like the kind of girl who would do it all the time.

"Maybe you should go to bed early tonight. You're probably just stressing out about what Fred wants to talk to you about tomorrow." Ella said.

"Fred wants to talk to me?" I asked, frowning. Hunter hadn't told me _anything_!

"Yeah..." Ella mumbled, her frown deepening. "He was going to meet you tomorrow at lunch outside the library to talk."

"Well, it definitely appears that my love life is moving along faster than yours, doesn't it?" I smirked as Ella blushed and I congratulated myself on making her blush for a second time.

"Just promise me you'll go to bed early, okay? You'll need your sleep for tomorrow." Ella said.

"Fine, I promise." I shrugged.

"Good." Ella now sounded relieved and turned back to her food again, shaking her head lightly as if she was trying to remove an image from her mind.

Probably the image of Hunter smirking.

So I smirked again.

*Darcy Hunter's POV*

I walked with Blaise to the Slytherin common room and felt smug when he hung back for me to go first. I was glad Malfoy had told me the password and said 'Salazar' without hesitating, then entering the common room with a slight swagger that I hoped looked right.

"Hey, Pucey!" Blaise called as he entered the common room, and he walked off to talk to the seventh year boy.

I was about to look for something to do when Pansy latched onto my arm – I don't even know where she came from – and smiled up at me through her eyelashes.

"Drakie," she said sweetly. "Can you help me with my homework?"

"Aren't you supposed to be off hexing Hunter?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and doing my best to look unimpressed. Her happiness vanished in an instant and she quickly changed to 'begging'.

"I'm so sorry, I really am! It slipped my mind when I saw you leaving the Great Hall..." she sighed dreamily but managed to pull herself from it again without my help. "Anyway, if I go hex her now, _then_ will you help me?"

"She's probably gone to the Gryffindor common room, how do you expect to get in there?" I asked.

Pansy's eyes looking up at me with such sorrow almost made me apologise.

But Malfoy's don't apologise, so I sucked it up and started tapping my foot to show how impatient I was.

If I do say so myself, I'm an amazing actress.

"Can I do it tomorrow?" she asked quietly.

Letting out a loud sigh, I nodded. "Fine, but don't forget. And you can do your own homework tonight."

Turning, I made my way over to one of the tables that was in the common room and sat down on one of the chairs. As I leant my arms on the table, I couldn't help but stare down at the pale hands of Malfoy again. I clenched them into fists experimentally and then released them, intrigued for a reason I didn't know.

Then I ran a hand through the white-blond hair I now had and almost chuckled to myself.

Poor Malfoy. What ever will he do with his new long hair?

He was probably staring in a mirror right now and wondering why he had to endure three whole months with green eyes and dull brown hair.

Curious as to when Malfoy would tell me what the task I was meant to complete for him was, I found my way to his dorm and went to sleep.


	4. What On Earth Is Malfoy Thinking?

Up until that morning I thought pretending to be Malfoy wouldn't be very hard at all. But when I woke up and saw Crabbe and Goyle hopping around trying to pull their clothes on I couldn't stop the scream that left my mouth and hurriedly yanked the covers back over my head.

The hopping stopped and I just _knew_ they were staring over at my bed, wondering what was wrong with their friend.

"Malfoy?" Crabbe asked cautiously. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"No, I did _not_ have a nightmare, Crabbe!" I snapped, keeping the covers over my head. I had to prove I was their tough friend Malfoy who did not scream at the sight of his friends getting changed.

"Well, what happened then?" Goyle asked in a rather dumb sounding voice. Or was that just his normal voice?

"I just feel sick. Hurry up and get out so I can sleep peacefully." I grumbled, wishing I had spray detergent which I could spray in my ears and hope it reached my brain to clean off the image which haunted me.

"You're not going to class?" Goyle asked in a half whisper, as if it was some sort of secret.

"Get. Out." I growled, hoping they would get the hint. Louder hopping reached my ears and there were a few thuds before I finally heard the door open and shut.

Then there was silence.

Very slowly, I pulled the covers down from my eyes and peered around the room. It was empty except for me and I sighed in relief.

Stumbling out of bed, I grabbed Malfoy's shoes and cloak and made my way to the bathroom so that I could get changed. I had no problem trying to wake myself up after being scared half to death the second I opened my eyes.

When I was finally dressed, I grabbed Malfoy's book bag and headed down to the common room, where Crabbe and Goyle were standing there looking very awkward.

"Oh, uh," Crabbe stuttered. "We weren't sure if... if you were coming or not."

"So we waited." Goyle shrugged, staring at the floor.

"Dude," I paused and made a mental reminder never to say that word as Malfoy ever again. "It's only breakfast. I can get there myself."

"Er, right." Crabbe nodded and then he and Goyle ambled out of the common room door quickly, almost scared that they were going to be hexed or something. Being Malfoy was tiring – everyone always thought I was contemplating how to kill them or something else along those lines.

With a sigh, I too left out the common room door and made my way to the Great Hall for breakfast. On my way to the Slytherin table I accidentally knocked into a hufflepuff girl and as I was just turning to apologise the look of fear on her face made me stop.

"I'm so sorry!" she whimpered, hurriedly ducking her head and rushing back over to one of her friends.

Wow. Talk about fear to the maximum.

Being truthful, I must say that Malfoy used to scare me a whole lot more than he does now. When we got on detention he looked tired and resigned and I figured he was probably just like everyone else – except for being a Slytherin.

Sitting down next to Blaise again, I reached over for a croissant and was about to drop it onto my plate when Blaise turned and looked at me with wide, shocked eyes. I stared back at him and raised an eyebrow.

We were silent for a few more moments before I gave in.

"What?" I snapped.

"I thought you didn't like croissants." he shrugged.

"Are you kidding? I _love_ croissants!" I laughed, shook my head, and turned back to my food. I lifted the croissant up to my mouth and took a bite, chewing it.

Then I did my best not to puke while Blaise chuckled and tried to hide it.

Managing to finally swallow it, I decided that I only didn't like it because I now had Malfoy's taste buds and not my own. Which meant I had no idea what foods I liked or didn't like any more (except what I ate the night before and croissants).

"Just wanted to see if I could make myself like it." I muttered to Blaise and he just rolled his eyes in response.

I was about to try some different food in order to experiment with my new taste buds when suddenly the doors to the Great Hall were thrown open and I watched _myself_ come gliding in with my head held high.

What. On. Earth. Is. Malfoy. Thinking!?

Malfoy had also decided to change the girls uniform slightly, making my blood boil even more than it already was. He had rolled the skirt at the top so that it sat much higher than normal and the top button of my shirt was undone, as well as my tie being rather loose. Was he... he'd found my black high heels and was wearing them too!

"What the heck is she _wearing_?" I burst out angrily. Blaise glanced at me curiously before looking over at 'Darcy Hunter' and raising an eyebrow.

"She looks hot like that." he commented and I did my best not to choke. "But you know," he added quickly. "She's all yours if you want her."

I turned my gaze on him sharply, a glare fixed to my face. It was momentarily amusing watching him slide down low in his chair out of fear, but it was driven from my mind as I remembered why I was angry.

In fact, my anger was also driven from my mind when I thought about what he had said. And then I was smirking.

"You know what? You're absolutely right," I said to him, relaxing. "She _is_ all mine."

"Good to have that sorted out." Blaise muttered, shaking his head in amusement and turning back to his food. I folded my arms and looked over at Malfoy again to find him watching me. I smirked and his confident demeanour faltered slightly as he wondered what I was up to.

Watch out, Draco Malfoy, I'm going to ruin your reputation.

"Malfoy? If you grip your spoon any tighter it's going to bend." Blaise mumbled and I quickly looked down to the spoon I was holding in a death grip.

"Oops." I shrugged and put it down. I wasn't used to having Malfoy's strength just yet. It was weird being able to do things I never used to be able to do.

"Draco! Crabbe says you had a nightmare last night!"

I turned to see Pansy standing behind me and glared angrily, making her take a step back involuntarily.

"Since when has Crabbe been someone to believe?" I asked her. She opened her mouth to answer but I quickly cut her off. "Never! So no, I didn't have a nightmare."

"But he said you screamed-"

"Merlin, don't you know when it's time to shut up and leave the subject alone?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in annoyance.

Malfoy wants me to be tough? I'll show him tough!

"I just wanted to know if you were okay-"

"Get lost, Parkinson, before I decide to use your face as a punching bag." I turned back to my plate and tried not to think about how sad she would feel now. I didn't hear anything for a moment and wondered if I had somehow managed to petrify her like what had happened when the chamber of secrets was opened, but when I looked over my shoulder I realised why she wasn't talking.

She had squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her hands into fists and tears were pouring out from under her eyelids.

Screw being tough.

I stood up and moved over to her, pulling her into an awkward hug. I mean come on, a Gryffindor hugging a Slytherin? It just wasn't heard of and even though no one except me knew that was what was happening, I still felt _really_ weird about it.

"I'm sorry, Pansy, I didn't mean it." I said soothingly.

Hm, Malfoy sounds hot when he talks like that.

Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!

"I love you, Drakie." Pansy whispered, tilting her head back and leaning up on tiptoes.

"Ah!" I exclaimed, pushing her away from me and stumbling backwards over my own feet – well, Malfoy's feet... you know what I mean! – and crashing down onto Blaise's lap.

Can you say... awkward?

"I actually thought you were going to kiss her for a moment there!" Blaise chuckled, looking down at me. Unfortunately my brain only registered the word kiss and I felt my face going bright red in embarrassment.

Quickly righting myself, I fought to stay calm. This meant nothing. He thought I was Malfoy. That was wrong. Gross. _Ew!_

"Sorry for scaring you," Pansy said in a sickly sweet voice, batting her eyelids at me. "Ready to go again?"

"What? No! Just because I hug you doesn't mean I wanna kiss you!" I shouted at her. Her eyes widened again and her bottom lip quivered, but now I had learnt my lesson.

Be tough. That's the only way to stop anything from happening.

Looking over at the Gryffindor table, I silently wished for death. I had thought after the incident with Pansy and Blaise nothing else could go wrong. I was, of course, mistaken.

Malfoy was sitting next to Fred and it looked like some serious talking was going on. Ella was sitting on the other side of Malfoy and looked worried, only increasing _my_ fears as well.

"Excuse me." I said, standing and heading straight for them. I wasn't going to stand around and let Malfoy ruin my life.

"Darcy... _Darcy!_" Ella hissed under her breath, watching me approach and nudging Malfoy hard in the ribs. He looked up and paused in something he was saying to Fred as he saw me. His eyes widened and then I was behind him.

"Hello, _Hunter_." I growled.

*Draco Malfoy's POV*

I looked up as Ella dug her elbow into my side – was she trying to kill me? – and saw myself, Hunter, walking up. I barely had time to think about what was happening before she was right behind me and bent down to my ear.

"Hello, _Hunter._" she growled threateningly.

"Uh, hi Malfoy!" I replied, attempting to sound like Hunter would.

"I'd like to talk to you for a minute in private, if you don't mind." Hunter said, standing up straight again and glancing over at Fred.

Of course, she was only worried about what I'd said to her _beloved_ crush.

"Ella, am I right in thinking that the _hottest_ guy at school is talking to _me_?" I asked, having leant towards Ella slightly and pretended to be trying to whisper. Hunter narrowed her eyes – _my beautiful eyes!_ - and put her hands on her hips angrily.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Ella said, turning away. Great best friend she is!

"Hunter, if you don't get your backside out of the Great Hall in two seconds I swear I will-"

"Re_lax_!" I laughed and stood up, putting a hand on her – my – arm.

"Relax? Are you insane? Out! Now!" she ordered, and in my voice it definitely did sound menacing. Clenching my teeth, I glared at her and then stalked past to leave the room. I knew she would follow.

Once we were both outside, Hunter dropped the act of being me.

"What did you say to him, Malfoy!?" she snapped, backing me up into a wall.

I don't like this feeling of being small.

"Nothing!" I squeaked. Literally, I squeaked. It's all because of Hunter's voice box! If I had _my_ voice box I wouldn't be squeaking.

"Don't lie to me. What did you tell him?" she asked again, the look in her eyes showing her murderous intentions.

"Alright fine!" I said, glaring back at her. "I told him you needed help asking someone out and he wanted to help. But you interrupted before I could tell him you wanted to ask _me_ out."

"You... were going... to tell him... that I liked _you_!?" she gasped out, the horror on her face almost amusing.

But it was my face. And she was ruining it.

Definitely not something to laugh about.

"Would you chill? It'll all be over in three months and you can tell him it was me and that you actually like _him_. Okay?" I folded my arms to try and appear scarier, but there is no way you can make Hunter look scarier than me, so I was at a loss.

"Stop being a jerk and stick to the plan." Hunter spat angrily and turned to leave before pausing and turning back. "Oh, and don't _ever_ wear that combination of clothes again."

I glanced down at myself. "But you look hot like this." When I looked up again, all I saw was Hunter's – my – back entering the Great Hall again.

Pah. Girls.


	5. Fixing and Breaking

It soon came time for lunch, and so far I was doing alright pretending to be Malfoy. His life could be a bit complicated sometimes, but I was pretty sure I'd be able to keep this up for three months.

Maybe.

But right now, while trying to survive as Malfoy I also had something else to worry about. Fred Weasley and I had agreed to meet outside the library today at lunch – now – to talk about some things. Seeing as Malfoy was now me... it would _not_ go to plan. I was sure of it.

So there I sat surrounded by Malfoy's friends, doing my best to pretend to be him and also freaking out because Malfoy was going to ruin all of my chances of ever being with Fred!

Oh yeah, and Pansy kept saying things about how amazing I was - "I love your blond hair Drakie! It's perfect... just like you!" - which kept me feeling really awkward and on the edge of my seat.

Continuously flicking my eyes over to the Gryffindor table, I wondered how long it would be until Ella told 'me' to get out of the Great Hall to meet Fred. Would Malfoy agree and leave calmly or would he say no and not go at all?

Would Fred forever be mad at me for standing him up?

"Excuse me," I said to Blaise, standing and beginning to head for the doors. I would just go to Fred and explain to him what had happened. That way I would be able to have the talk with him myself. I was sure he'd be understanding.

"Malfoy, wait!"

I turned at the doors and saw Malfoy running up. He latched onto my arm and I raised an eyebrow, wondering what was wrong with him.

"Okay, now you can keep walking." he said with a smile. I shot a look over at Ella and groaned inwardly as I saw her watching with an open mouth.

"I hate you, Malfoy." I growled under my breath before moving on through the doors and walking down the corridor. I shoved him sideways so he was forced to let go of me and folded my arms, scowling.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To find Fred."

"But he's waiting to see _me_ and not _you_."

"I'm going to tell him what happened-"

"You can't!" Malfoy grabbed my arm and spun me to face him, panic on his face as we stared at each other. "You don't understand, you simply cannot tell _anyone_."

"Why? You can just blame me for what happened and your reputation will be safe." I shrugged.

"I think I should tell you about my missio- my task." he said solemnly.

"Can't it wait? Fred's waiting!" I reminded him impatiently.

"Come with me." Malfoy took my hand and began leading me in a different direction.

I frowned and pulled back, managing to get out of his grip now that I had his strength. He sighed in frustration and turned back to me again.

"You have to cooperate!" he snapped. "If you don't, my entire _life_ could be ruined, do you understand?"

For a moment I was silent, just watching him to try and see whether he was telling the truth or not. But then I sighed as I came to the conclusion that he wasn't joking at all. He meant business.

"Alright, Malfoy," I gave in. "Lead the way."

For the next ten minutes we walked. Away from the library, through many different corridors and up some stairs we went before finally coming to a halt in front of a wall.

Thrill-ing.

"Look, I really don't have time for-"

"Quiet." Malfoy interrupted me, closing his eyes and concentrating before opening them again. I couldn't help but stand there and just gawk.

The wall in front of us had begun to move. It had formed a door.

Malfoy stepped forward and opened it before groaning and reaching back to drag me along because I was still staring.

"Sorry," I mumbled and began walking for myself again. He shut the door behind us and then walked ahead again, seeming to know exactly where he was going.

We were in a room full of junk. Yes, junk. I couldn't see why anyone would want any of the things in here- ooh, but _that_ would be nice to own! - so I simply followed after Malfoy quickly to make sure I didn't end up getting lost.

Soon enough I found myself standing in front of a large cabinet which actually looked pretty nice. I wondered why it was here amongst all the other things, but soon forgot that thought when Malfoy nudged me.

"I need you to fix it." he said.

"Fix what?" I asked, frowning.

"The cabinet!" Malfoy sighed. "It's linked to another one which is identical to it but I can't get them to work so you have to do it for me."

What a bossy little boy!

"If you want it fixed, do it yourself." I shook my head and turned away.

"Hunter, I would if I could but unfortunately that's not possible. People in Slytherin already know that I have something that I have to do, though, so it won't be as weird when you start skipping class to work on this," he held up a hand to silence me when I began to protest, "but if _I_ skipped class all your friends would wonder what you were doing and unnecessary questions would be brought up."

"Why do you need it fixed?" I asked when he finally allowed me to speak.

"That's none of your business." Malfoy folded his arms stubbornly.

"If you don't tell me then I'm not going to understand the importance-" I started to argue but Malfoy wasn't listening and had already started to walk away again.

"Enjoy yourself," he called over his shoulder, "I'm going to go talk to Fred for you."

*Draco Malfoy's POV*

Finding Fred Weasley was easy. He was pacing outside the library with a worried look on his face that almost made me laugh out loud. The only reason I stopped myself was because I had a plan and wasn't going to risk ruining it this early on.

So instead, I walked over and cleared my throat to get his attention, folding my arms. He snapped his head up to see me and his entire face and stance relaxed immediately.

"I thought you weren't coming." he admitted with a chuckle.

"That makes two of us," I sighed, but then shook my head at Fred's expression. "It was a joke."

"Oh." He frowned. "Well, if you want to do this some other time we can. It doesn't have to be today."

"No, please," I said quickly, almost choking on the words. "Let's get this over with."

Oops. Wrong thing to say.

"Darcy, it's okay," Fred shrugged, already beginning to walk away. "I'll tell you later."

"You like," I winced on the inside, "me, don't you?"

Fred froze and slowly turned back to face me, a hint of panic in his face. It took all of my self-control not to smirk at him as I waited for him to respond.

"I guess I thought I did, yeah," he said quietly and cautiously. "But now I'm not so sure. You're acting weird, Darcy. If you don't like me it's okay, you just have to tell me and I'll leave you alone. You don't have to try and make me not like you."

"As a matter of fact," I allowed a smile to cross my face now, whilst being very careful that it didn't turn into a smirk. "I actually have a huge crush on Draco Malfoy."

Fred's reaction was nowhere near as pleasing as I had hoped. Instead of having his mouth fall open and eyes pop out, he deflated.

"I'd hoped that was only a rumour." he murmured.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but there's no way I could choose you over Draco." I told him firmly, still smiling.

"So that's what you were trying to tell me the other day? That you liked Malfoy?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, exactly." I nodded. "And now that everything's been said, I'm going to go and leave you to your mournful thoughts."

Turning around, I rolled my eyes and began to walk away.

"Look, I don't know what's happened to you but I know that you're not acting like yourself. As far as I'm concerned, Malfoy can have you until you realise who you are again!" Fred yelled after me.

"Oh, don't worry," I said, turning to look over my shoulder at him. "Draco Malfoy _will_ have me."

*Darcy Hunter's POV*

After giving the cabinet a look over and trying to gain a bit of an understanding of what I was meant to do, I left the room and tried to find Malfoy. He had said he had gone to talk to Fred, but I somehow doubted that. He hadn't been planning to at all until I had decided to go to him, so once I was out of the way again, why should he go and talk to Fred?

So I began making my way to the Gryffindor common room without even thinking, only knowing that it was a good place to look for myself because I often spent a lot of time there. Also, Malfoy would have probably retreated there to get away from Ella.

"Ashwinder." I said as I neared the portrait and I frowned as the fat lady gasped in shock before opening for me.

Stepping through, I looked around without luck for Malfoy – well, myself. Merlin, this is still so confusing.

"What the-" I turned at Harry's voice. "How did you get in here Malfoy!?"

Suddenly I had Harry's wand pointing at my face and found myself floundering for an explanation. If I told him I was myself he wouldn't believe me, plus Malfoy would probably kill me. So what should I say?

"I was coming to meet Darcy Hunter," I explained sadly. I truly was sad, because if Malfoy ever heard about this he would never let me live it down. "Have you seen her? She was supposed to meet me a while ago."

"Meet you for what?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing.

I suddenly had a strange insight to how difficult it would've been if Malfoy had ever wanted to try and make friends with Harry.

"We're," I paused. "going out."

"Don't lie! Darcy would never go out with you." Harry snapped.

"Look, have you seen her or not?" I asked angrily, thankful that it sounded threatening in Malfoy's voice. Although, I was worried that Harry might decide to hex me, which would definitely be a problem.

"Last I saw she was with Fred, so there's another hole in your theory." Harry said.

Oh my gosh! Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Thanks!" I burst out before spinning around and running out of the common room. I had to find Malfoy! Seeing as he _had_ gone to talk to Fred, the main question now was did he ruin my life or did he help me out?


	6. What do you want Parry?

The first person I ran into was actually Fred. I was feeling so desperate that I almost gasped out a 'I'm so glad I ran into you' but caught myself just in time. Until I figured out what had happened, I wasn't going to cause myself to make any mistakes.

"Well look who it is," Fred said with a shake of his head. "Coming after Gryffindors now, are you?"

Actually allowing myself to look at him properly now that he had spoken first, I gave him my best confused look. It was my best because it was the real thing, ha ha. Okay I know that wasn't funny at all.

"What do you mean by 'coming after Gryffindors'?" I asked him.

"You know exactly what I mean Malfoy," Fred said with a slight growl in his voice. I had a feeling his meeting with the real Malfoy didn't go smoothly. "You've caught Darcy's eye."

"I have?" I couldn't help but sound shocked. I was. So this was how Draco repaid me for deciding to help him out with his broken cabinet?

"Don't play dumb with me." Fred said firmly.

"Oh I'm not, I just... didn't realise I'd caught her eye so soon." I explained, doing my best not to let the strangely-natural smirk make an appearance. "You see, I've been chasing after her for so long it's not funny. I love her so much it hurts me. Have you ever been in a situation like that?"

"What on earth has gotten into you, Malfoy?" Fred asked, backing away slightly. I bit my tongue to stop from laughing – this was what I wanted. Payback! I was going to make everyone think he was out of his mind.

And definitely pathetic.

"She's so beautiful, and it hurts me that she's in Gryffindor. But as long as my father doesn't find out about it everything will be fine." I continued, doing my best to appear sincere whilst cheering on the inside.

Take that, you rumour-spreader!

"Did you slip her a love potion?" Fred asked.

"If only I had! Unfortunately, I never actually thought of that." I shrugged plainly, doing my best to act stupid.

"You _must_ have done something to her! All she does nowadays is talk about you! Ever since that time when you... you..." Fred trailed off and narrowed his eyebrows in thought, looking as if he'd just realised something.

"Since I... I..." I mocked, actually finding it a bit fun being able to be Malfoy in this situation.

It's not like I would've done it if Fred thought I was Darcy, I mean, that's just mean. But so long as he doesn't find out it's all fine. Besides, I'm not really being mean... he looks cute when he's thinking!

"Ever since you were on detention together." Fred finished, folding his arms.

Uh oh.

"What's ever since then?" I asked, pretending I had forgotten where this conversation had started.

"Darcy's been acting weird, so whatever you did to her had to be done then. I bet Snape's in on it as well, because he was the one who was supervising you." Fred said.

"Oh come on," I gave a short laugh. "If Snape knew about me liking... Darcy... he'd tell my father and I'd be dead! Of course I'd never tell him."

"Look, I'm not going to waste my time by talking to you any more. But I _will_ go to Professor McGonagall if you don't fix her soon." Fred threatened before turning and walking away.

"Well that went well." I muttered dryly.

As I turned to start walking down a different corridor, I finally allowed the huge grin to break out on my face. True, Draco had done a wonderful job of trying to mess up my opportunities with Fred, but thankfully Fred knew me better than that and didn't believe it was the real me.

I frowned again then, realising that now I couldn't even tell Fred the truth about what had happened unless I wanted him to find out he had just been speaking to me.

Oh well!

*Draco Malfoy's POV*

Entering the Gryffindor common room again, I found my way blocked by Ella Gaston. She had her hands on her hips and her eyebrows were narrowed in an accusing way that actually managed to intimidate. Most probably because Darcy is shorter than I am.

"Did you want something?" I asked her quickly, not feeling like hanging around and talking to her.

"We need to talk."

Great.

"Look, I'm a little busy right now but we can talk later if you'd like. Just remember, the world doesn't revolve around you and you don't always get what you want." I moved to step past her but she blocked my way again, this time looking angrier than before.

"_That_ is what I want to talk to you about. What has happened to you?" she demanded.

"Is that really any of your business?" I snapped back at her. Honestly, Slytherins didn't pry into your matters. They knew when it was time to back away and drop it, but apparently Gryffindors didn't.

"You're my best friend! I want to know why you've had a dramatic personality change these past few days. Has something happened? You know you can tell me!" Ella said firmly, looking me straight in the eyes probably to get her message across.

It was unnerving.

"I don't know what you _think_ has happened, but nothing has. Give it a rest and leave me alone." I tried once again to push past her, this time managing to do it. But she followed me.

"I just want to know what's going on. You haven't even told me about you and Malfoy." She said from behind me.

"What's there to tell?" I asked, still walking.

"Maybe that you're apparently going out! Can you believe Malfoy actually came in here before and told Harry he was going out with you? Why would you tell a Slytherin the password to the common room? You know it's against rules!" Ella protested.

I froze and slowly turned around to face her. Something she had said stuck out to me and I wanted to check to see whether it was actually true.

"Malfoy came in here?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it?"

"And he told Harry we were dating?"

"What, was he lying?"

"No, that's just it," I grinned. "He was telling the truth."

"So you're amazed he was telling the truth for once? So am I! At least we agree on one thing." Ella sighed.

"Just one more check," I said, holding up a hand. "Malfoy actually came in here and said we were dating?"

"Yes! How many times do I have to say that for you to believe me?" Ella asked, thoroughly frustrated now.

"This is great." I said, beginning to smirk.

"Why? I don't understand you, Darcy!" Ella waved a hand in front of my face and I just turned away again, heading for the common room door again. I needed to have a little chat with the real Darcy Hunter.

"Hey, Darcy!"

But nothing ever runs smoothly, does it?

"What do you want Parry?" I asked, turning around. Harry was standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to the boys dorm. Admittedly, I had almost called him Potter, but thankfully I had saved myself.

Well I'd _tried_ to save myself.

Shut up.

"So it's true about you and Malfoy?"

"Absolutely." I nodded. "I'm just about to go find him, actually." I smirked before going back to walking over to the door.

Just as I was exiting, I heard Ella whisper, "Just don't get yourself hurt."

*Darcy Hunter's POV*

I was on my way to the Slytherin common room to do some of my homework when I saw him.

Myself, actually. Seeing as it's still my face and everything – but okay, you get that. Alright. Sorry.

Draco walked straight over to me and grabbed my arm, leading me into an empty classroom where we could talk in what I imagined to be privacy. But seriously, you never know what sorts of strange monsters might be lurking in empty classrooms.

"Hi, Draco." I greeted him with a smile.

"You and I need to have a little chat, I think," he said with a smirk. I hope I don't keep the habit of smirking when I'm back in my own body because it doesn't look too great on me, to be honest.

"What about?" I asked him, raising my eyebrows slightly.

"About us." he said simply.

"Us? What exactly does that include?" I asked, just to clarify.

"You and me as a couple." he explained, helping me out as he seemed to know exactly what I had meant by my question.

Wait, what did he just say?

"What? A couple? Huh?" I burst out in confusion.

"I heard you've been spreading rumours that we're going out." he said, his smirk widening.

"Um, have I? I mean yeah... but you told Fred I like you!" I retorted. "Besides, I had to think quickly! Harry caught me by surprise and I had to think of something that was plausible."

"So you and I going out is plausible?" he asked to confirm.

"Of course it is," I said with a slight frown. "But don't get any ideas."

"Oh don't worry about me, I'm just amazed that you're not as angry as I imagined you would be once you found out what I said to Fred." Draco shrugged.

"I don't know _everything_ you said, but it'll all blow over once we're back in our own bodies, right?" I asked curiously. Had he said something else to Fred that I needed to know about?

"Well it should." Draco said evasively.

"Is there something you're not te-"

"What do you think about the cabinet? Does it have a chance?" Draco changed the subject swiftly and I was silent for a moment as I processed what he was asking.

"I guess so," I admitted. "But it'll probably take me the entire three months."

"Good. So once I'm back in my own body I won't have to worry about fixing it and I'll just be able to go on with... what I'm meant to be doing, right?" Draco asked.

"Yes." I nodded.

"Alright, that's all I wanted to know. Make sure you go to it every afternoon to work on it a bit more. Do as much as you can as fast as you can." Draco said, beginning to head to the door.

"Wait," I said, biting my lip nervously as he paused and looked back at me. "When will you tell me more about this task of yours?"

"Maybe in three months," he shrugged, stepping through the doorway. "Maybe once it's complete."


	7. Letters and Excuses

Stumbling down to the common room the next morning, I rubbed my eyes sleepily. With a frown, I abruptly stopped walking and stared around the room in total confusion. What were Slytherins doing taking over the Gryffindor common room?

Wait, wait.

I'm Malfoy.

Glancing down at myself just to double check that was correct, I nodded as I saw his clothes and his hands, which I was holding up slightly in order to look at them.

It was unfortunate that I had more classes again today. I was tempted to just skip and stay in bed.

Actually, that could work.

"Hey, Malfoy," Blaise walked over to me and raised an eyebrow. "Forget to put your uniform on this morning?"

Feeling incredibly exposed even though I knew there was nothing to worry about because Blaise thought he was talking to a male, I cleared my throat and folded my arms.

"I'm not going to classes today." I announced to him.

"Brilliant! Wanna go practice some quidditch instead?" Blaise asked, already beginning to drop his book-bag onto the floor.

"No," I said quickly so that he didn't continue with his little daydream for too long. "I'm going to sleep."

"You feeling alright?" he asked curiously, picking his bag up again.

"Absolutely fine."

With a sigh, I turned and trudged back to Malfoy's room and fell on the bed, burying my head in his pillow. It was _so_ comfortable.

Being Malfoy certainly had some perks. I had never skipped class before and no one would ever find out I had! What a perfect situation.

I was interrupted from my happy dreaming, however, when an owl knocked on the window. With a groan about how it should have gone to the Great Hall instead because everyone else was eating breakfast, I pulled myself up to let it in.

Quickly dropping a letter on the bed, it took off again.

"Well, I wonder who this could be from," I said sarcastically as I saw a large 'M' seal on the back of the letter. How would I be able to give it to Malfoy, though, so that he could read it? I would be staying in bed all day. And it wasn't like I could open it since it wasn't mine to open.

The door opened and I looked up to see Blaise.

"You sure you don't wanna practice some quidditch?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. "Or are you... you know... gonna be busy doing... you know... _that_?"

"Blaise, get out." I snapped. I was in absolutely no mood to continue talking to him and decided to use some of my Malfoy authority – which actually worked, because Blaise rolled his eyes and left the room.

I kind of felt bad for him, but at the same time I didn't. Seeing as they normally called each other by their last names they couldn't really be _that_ close could they?

Oh my gosh wait.

I just called him Blaise.

Apparently, he had realised exactly the same thing, because he suddenly entered the room again with raised eyebrows.

"Uh... Malfoy?" he asked.

"I don't want to play quidditch." I said, hoping he wouldn't say anything.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "But why did you call me Blaise?"

"It's your name, isn't it?" I asked angrily, slamming Draco's letter down on the bedside table. He jumped slightly.

"But you always-"

"Okay if I play quidditch with you will you shut up?" I snapped.

Please say no, please say no.

I want him to shut up, yes, but I don't want to play quidditch!

"Okay."

Merlin, can't you take a hint?

"Alright, give me a minute to get changed then." I said with a sigh. There was nothing I could do to escape now.

"Awesome, I'll wait for you on the pitch. Don't bother grabbing your broom, I'll get it for you." Blaise turned to leave and then hesitated. "Do you want me to call anyone else to play as well?"

"No, please don't." I said with a shake of my head.

"Okay. See you down there."

Then, finally, he was gone.

Pushing myself off Malfoy's bed and going over to grab some clothes, I quickly got dressed into his uniform. I may as well pretend I had intentions of going to class when exiting my room.

When I was finally ready, I picked up the letter again and shoved it in my pocket just in case I ran into Malfoy and had a chance to give it to him. If that didn't happen, I'd have to arrange to meet up with him at night or something.

When I exited the Slytherin common room, I tried to take all the back corridors to get outside. Thankfully since it was early everyone else was still either in their rooms or in the Great Hall for breakfast.

I still couldn't believe I'd agreed, though.

Have I not mentioned, yet, that I don't play quidditch?

Well I don't. At all. Ever.

I don't mind heights, so that's not my reason. It's just that... I'm not very coordinated.

Eventually making my way to the pitch, I saw Blaise standing there and hurried forward to meet him.

"Here," he said, handing me Malfoy's broom. "Race for the snitch?"

Then I realised he was holding the snitch in one hand and I almost died. He expected us to compete for the snitch? Could this situation possibly get any worse?

"Yeah, okay."

Well, I just had to go ahead and agree to that didn't I?

Blaise nodded and mounted his broom before letting go of the snitch and watching as it flew off into the distance quickly.

"On three?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at me. Without waiting for a response he then said, "One, two, three!"

Kicking off the ground, he was up in the air and zooming across the quidditch pitch like a bullet. I was still trying to figure out how to get on the broom.

Deciding that the strange-bent-shaped-things at the bottom were for my feet, I tried to stand on them and ended up falling flat on my face. Grumbling, I pulled myself up again and settled for ignoring the strange-bent-shaped-things and simply swinging a leg over and sitting on the broom as I'd seen others do. This was easier.

Gripping the top of the broom tightly, I tried not to think about what I was about to do even though I had to because otherwise I wouldn't be able to do it.

Wow, confusing.

Taking a deep breath and counting slowly in my head, I then pushed off from the ground with my feet and swallowed nervously as I found myself rising into the air.

Somehow, my feet found the strange-bent-shaped-things and rested on them, making me feel a bit better because I seemed to have gotten the hang of it.

Looking up, I frowned. Why was Blaise flying back towards me? Had he noticed my uncertainty and come to find out what was wrong? Because if so, I would be really frustrated. Couldn't he just leave me alone?

"Malfoy?" he called.

"What?" I growled.

"What's wrong? I thought you would've overtaken me 2 seconds after I said three." Blaise shrugged.

"I just don't feel very well. Don't worry about it." I grumbled, making up an excuse.

"Are you freaking out about your task? You can tell me, you know." he said gently.

I could tell he didn't actually care, because his eyes showed his greediness. Of course he only wanted to know so that he could be in on the big secret. What an idiot.

No, actually, just a Slytherin.

"I'm not telling you anything." I said stubbornly.

"Well fine then," Blaise retorted in annoyance. "Can we just race for the snitch now please?"

"Yeah, you go and I'll catch up." I said, gesturing with my head.

"Look, if you don't wanna play just tell me and we'll head back." Blaise said, lowering his broom so that he could stand on the ground. I was still hovering in mid-air and was suddenly nervous as I realised I didn't know how to make it go down.

"I never said that I-"

"You should probably go work on your task more, anyway." Blaise sighed. "Forget it, Malfoy. Just don't forget about the match in two weeks."

Match in two weeks? As in... a quidditch match?

Please somebody kill me now.

Actually, I'd prefer it if Snape came running up announcing that he'd finished the antidote. It would make my life happy.

"Merlin you're spaced!" Blaise exclaimed. He shook his head and dismounted his broom, turning and pulling out his wand to accio the snitch back from wherever it had gone.

Frowning, I watched as he then proceeded to start walking back to the castle.

Okay... I know I wanted him to leave me alone before but... can't he see that his best friend is stuck on a broom in mid-air? Help!

"Erm..." I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"What?" he called over his shoulder, still walking.

"H-how do I get down?" I asked nervously. He'd definitely know something was up now, but who cares? I needed to get down!

"Oh for the love of Salazar Slytherin!" Blaise exclaimed, turning around and staring at me in disbelief. "You really think I believe that? Don't take me for a fool, Malfoy!"

My mouth fell open in horror as I watched him clench his jaw and storm off in anger.

There was only one option left for me.

Closing my eyes, I rolled sideways and let go of the broom.

As expected, the ground hit me rather hard. No consideration, I tell you. None at all.

But at least I was on the ground.

Standing up, I grabbed the broom from the air and begun trudging slowly after Blaise, who had actually turned and seen me perform my little stunt. Lovely.

And now he was smirking, chuckling, and walking off again.

Praaaaat!


	8. Whoops

It wasn't long until I found myself alone in the Slytherin common room, still refusing to go to class. It was a thrilling experiencing and I wasn't going to give it up for anything right now.

Besides, I had a plan for what I was going to spend my time doing. I just had to look like I knew what I was doing and nothing could go wrong.

See, I was going to go to the library to do some research. Not for an assignment or anything, but for something else. I should have done this ages ago and couldn't believe it was only now, when I was skipping class, that the thought entered my mind.

Snape was a Slytherin and I didn't doubt for one second that he was sadistic. So it was very possible that he had lied about the potion and was simply making Draco and I survive as each other for his own personal amusement. I was going to go to the library and research the potion to see if there was a quicker way to reverse the effects.

With Draco's book-bag slung over one shoulder, I headed to the door and walked out, making my way through the corridors until I reached the library and walked inside.

Keeping my chin in the air so that it would appear that I had a free period and had every right to be there, I walked past Madame Pince's desk and down an aisle, beginning to scan the books until I reached the ones all about potions.

Putting the book-bag down on a desk, I reached over for one book which looked interesting and started reading it.

This would be tedious, but I had to do it.

Although I had to admit that after five books I already wanted to give up.

Clenching my teeth together and shoving the fifth book back on the shelf, I pulled another one down and flicked it open to a random page.

_The Mutuus potion, named from the Latin word for 'interchanged', has been known to have disastrous effects on those who have consumed it. As the antidote takes three months to brew, those who have been forced into another's body must wait this full time until they can go back to their own. Being in another body for such a long period of time creates an unbreakable bond between the two people, causing them to go into an irrational panic when they are away from the other person for a few hours._

Slamming the book shut, I decided I really didn't want to read about it anymore. I'd also decided I needed to tell Dumbledore what was going on so that he could try and come up with some way to get us back to normal before three months had passed.

I didn't need to worry about being attached to Draco after all this was over.

Grabbing the book-bag again and hurriedly leaving the library, I wondered what class I would normally have now. I wanted to try and find Draco so that I could give him his letter because honestly I was just sick of having it in my pocket. I couldn't help but feel an intense desire to open it and read its' contents.

But I wouldn't, so I needed to find Draco as soon as possible to give it to him and be rid of the temptation.

As I rounded a corner, I almost ran head-first into Cormac McLaggen.

"Whoa, sorry!" I exclaimed before I could stop myself.

"Ah no worries-" he frowned and squinted at me.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, stepping away from him slightly.

"No, no of course not." he said quickly, straightening and trying to brush over the fact that I had apologised to him. I didn't blame him for being confused. He thought I was Draco.

Yeah, see? Makes perfect sense.

"Hey, do you have a girlfriend?" I asked suddenly.

"What? No. Do you?" Cormac asked. It was clear in his eyes that he didn't know why Draco Malfoy was talking to him so nicely.

"Well not really. I like Darcy Hunter," I mentally sniggered. "but have you seen her friend? Ella Gaston?"

Cormac frowned again slightly in thought before nodding. "Oh yeah, I think I remember her."

"She's pretty good-looking, wouldn't you say?" I asked. Hopefully Ella would love me for this! I mean come on, I was chatting her up to him and he wouldn't even think I was doing it as a favour because seriously, 'Malfoy' wouldn't do that.

"Oh, I guess she's kind of average." Cormac shrugged. "I'm more interested in... never mind."

"Oh right, of course. Granger." I said knowingly.

"How did you know that?" he asked in shock.

"I know a lot about Gryffindors. Don't look so shocked! I have my sources." I smirked and folded my arms.

"Right."

"But come on, wouldn't you go out with Gaston? She's good-looking and has a great personality!" I continued.

"Look, I'm sorry but she's not really my type you know? But uh, good luck with Darcy."

Cormac then quickly stepped past me and walked towards the library, shaking his head and muttering things which didn't make sense but which told of his confusion at what had just happened.

I was very upset.

First I found out that if I stayed in Draco's body for the whole three months I'd be attached to him and now I find out that the guy Ella's been crushing on for a while thinks she's not his type.

What a jerk.

Groaning, I went back to the Slytherin common room and started doing some homework, deciding to wait until break to go and find Draco and give him the letter.

*Draco Malfoy's P.O.V*

Sitting in class listening to the Professor drone on about... I don't even know what, I zoned out – was not helping my nerves. Darcy hadn't come to class and that could only mean one thing.

She'd decided to start working on the cabinet.

What would happen if she somehow put the pieces together and worked out my task? I couldn't allow that to happen. She wasn't allowed to know because then she'd go tell Dumbledore and, well, that would completely ruin the whole thing wouldn't it?

I didn't realise class was over until Gaston was dragging me out of the seat and pushing me towards the door, muttering something about how I was completely spaced out and going to hurt myself if I wasn't careful.

"Darcy! Snap out of it! Are you daydreaming about Malfoy or something?" Gaston asked with a loud sigh as we got out into the corridor.

"So what if I am?" I asked her.

"You know what? I'm gonna take you to the Hospital Wing." she suddenly announced, grabbing my arm tightly and leading me off in the opposite direction to where all the other students were heading.

"Oh for the love of Salazar Slytherin-"

"Excuse me!?"

Gaston froze and turned to stare at me with wide eyes.

Whoops.

"Okay, I haven't seen you around Malfoy much at all, so how could that have rubbed off already?" she asked angrily.

"Uh, dunno?" I said feebly.

"You know what? I'm sick and tired of this. If you want to space out in class, run after Malfoy and totally ignore your best friend then go ahead. You obviously don't want to talk to me, so now I don't want to talk to you either."

I watched in shock as Gaston flicked her hair behind her shoulder and turned to walk away angrily. For some reason I felt a bit guilty about ruining Darcy's friendship.

Knowing I'd probably regret it later, I reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Gaston, wait."

*Darcy Hunter's P.O.V*

Apparently Blaise hadn't actually gone back to class, because it wasn't long before he walked into the common room and saw me, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Malfoy? You're still here? I thought you would've gone to bed or something since you were feeling sick." he said.

"I thought you went back to class." I replied.

"Ah, no, I took a walk. History of Magic isn't really my thing anyway." Blaise chuckled lightly.

"Yeah."

After a moments silence, Blaise came and sat across from me at the table.

"Malfoy, please tell me what your task is." he pleaded softly.

"Merlin, no! Leave me alone Zabini."

Yes! Go me! I called him Zabini!

"I won't tell anyone, I promise! I just wanna know! I mean, it's obviously gotten you feeling pretty freaked out since you couldn't even remember how to dismount a broom." Blaise snickered.

"Oh, shut up. That had nothing to do with my task." I snapped.

"Really?" Blaise asked, all humour gone as he studied me.

"What?" I asked, trying to avoid the question. I didn't know what he was getting at anyway, so he was making me nervous.

"Forget it." he muttered.

"Okay..." I said slowly, turning back to my work.

"You've been acting so weird lately." Blaise said bluntly, out of the blue. "I mean, among a lot of other things, you said sorry to Pansy and tried to make yourself like Croissants."

"What's wrong with that? I do have a heart, you know. Contrary to popular belief." I muttered.

Whoa. I'm actually feeling like Draco right now. That is so something he would say!

PARTY TIME!

Okay Darcy listen to Blaise. Good girl.

"I know you've got a heart you idiot, but you've never shown it before!" Blaise exclaimed. "I just want to know, if it's not your task that's doing it, why you're acting so weird!"

"Look, it doesn't even matter." I said breezily, hoping he'd drop it.

"Yes it does! I feel like I don't know you anymore! Seriously, if you don't tell me what's up soon I'll go find Flint and make him interrogate you." Blaise threatened.

I wasn't sure whether Draco would actually be intimidated by that or not, but I sure was.

"Please don't do that!"

"Then tell me-"

"Okay fine! Shut up. I'll tell you but..." I chewed on my lip nervously as I hesitated. "You have to promise not to tell anyone."

Blaise frowned and sat back in his chair.

"I promise."


	9. Boyfriends and Girlfriends

*Draco Malfoy's P.O.V*

Gaston's eyes widened as she turned to face me.

"Gaston already, huh?" she snapped angrily, blinking rapidly. Oh no. She wasn't going to start crying, was she?

"Listen! I have something to tell you. This might be pretty hard for you to take in, but you deserve to know." I said to her firmly, trying to keep her attention and not letting go of her arm.

"What? You're sick of my company? You want to go join the Slytherins and become a brat?" she asked.

"No! Look, something happened between myself and Darcy and-"

"You _are_ Darcy! Don't start randomly talking in third person!" Gaston groaned.

"Thats the thing! I'm not Darcy! I'm Draco Malfoy and I've swapped bodies with her!"

Gaston opened her mouth and paused, blinking in confusion.

"You can't tell anyone that I told you, though! Because we agreed not to tell." I said to her.

"You're Malfoy?" she asked slowly.

"Yes." I nodded, glad that she was with me so far.

"Are you actually going out with Darcy?" she asked.

"What? No." I shook my head firmly. "We only decided to pretend that we were so that it was easier to explain why we were suddenly hanging out more often."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense." Gaston sighed.

"Do you promise not to tell?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, of course! But... can I not even tell her?" she asked curiously.

"No! I was the one getting mad at her wanting to tell people, so if she finds out I've told someone she'll kill me!" I exclaimed. "Look, for now just try and forget about it and act normally."

"Okay. When are you gonna be back to normal?"

"When Snape brews the antidote." I shrugged.

"Which is...?"

"Three months."

*Darcy Hunter's P.O.V.*

For some reason I couldn't stop chewing my lip. If Draco ever found out that I'd told Blaise he would seriously murder me for going against what he'd said. But come on, how was I supposed to avoid this? I didn't want Blaise to keep acting really weird around me because soon enough other people would notice as well. It was best to keep it low-key.

"So?" Blaise prompted, still waiting.

"Right, so in detention a few days ago I swapped bodies with Draco Malfoy and now I'm stuck here for three months as Snape brews the antidote. Hi! I'm Darcy Hunter!"

I stuck my hand out for Blaise to shake but he only stared at me as if I'd grown another head.

"Malfoy, as original as that story is, you might like to try for something _believable_ as well." he finally said.

"It's true! Why else would I have no idea how to ride a broom or dismount one? You saw me fall! Whatever other strange behavioural difference that you've noticed since that detention is also because of this." I explained in a rush.

Come on! If he doesn't believe me then this will be a total waste of time!

"So... you're Darcy Hunter?" he asked with a slight grin on his face.

"Yes! I am! You can even ask Snape if you really want!" I almost shouted. This was so frustrating!

Now frowning, Blaise remained silent for a few moments.

"You're telling the truth?"

I paused before answering so that I didn't yell again. "Yes, I am."

"Wow."

Then came the awkward silence as we sat there not knowing what to do or say.

"Hey, Malfoy! Zabini! You're late for Potions!"

I jumped and turned to see Flint standing in the doorway with a slight frown on his face.

"Yeah, we're coming." Blaise mumbled.

"Is he in there!" came a high-pitched squeal from behind Flint and suddenly he was shoved aside for Pansy to come running through.

I let out a yell of horror and dove under the table.

"Pansy, stay back!" Blaise said, standing up quickly and pushing the girl away slightly. I was so glad he'd decided to help me out.

"I just want to know what's wrong! Drakie, why did you miss History of Magic?" she asked with a whine in her voice.

"Because I hate that class! Leave me alone!" I replied.

Pansy let out a loud sigh and finally stalked away and out the door, very upset at my lack of enthusiasm.

Blaise helped me out from under the desk and Flint shook his head before leaving as well, allowing us to get ready to come by ourselves.

"Thanks." I said to him.

"No problem." Blaise grinned. "I figured you'd need some help as it's probably scarier for you than it is for Malfoy."

I laughed.

"Absolutely! At first I didn't believe him when he said she was really bad and obsessive, but whoa!"

Blaise nodded in agreement and grabbed his Potions book off the table before putting it in his bag.

"You coming to class this time?" he asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I need to give something to Draco."

"That sounds so weird in his voice." Blaise chuckled. I grinned and grabbed my own bag before following him out the door.

"Uh... about this whole body swapping thing..." I murmured to him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You can't tell anyone. Draco would murder me if he found out I'd told you." I explained.

"Oh, right. Sure. I can keep it under my hat." Blaise said with a nod.

Glad that I had gotten that sorted out and everything was going to be fine, I began to smiled as we walked.

"Oh look! It's my gorgeous _boyfriend_!"

I froze and slowly turned to see myself walking up with a large smile. Obviously it was Draco.

Ha. Draco just said he had a boyfriend.

"Hey Darcy," I said. "I was wondering where you were, I've got something I need to give you."

Draco came right up close before stopping and then raised an eyebrow expectantly. I reached into my pocket and fished out the letter before handing it over.

See? I'm amazing. I didn't read it!

Draco's expression darkened as he saw it was a letter and he hurriedly put it in his own pocket (actually mine when you think about it- but you got that a while ago didn't you? Okay, sorry for reminding you!).

"Let's go find a seat." Draco said, grabbing my arm and beginning to drag me towards the classroom that we had almost reached.

"Excuse me Hunter," Blaise said. "I'm sure Malfoy would prefer to sit with me than you, so go find your friend and sit with her instead alright?"

"Don't be so-"

"Darcy! Sit with me!" Ella suddenly whizzed past us and Draco was gone before we could blink.

Blaise leaned in close to me to speak.

"So that was actually Malfoy in your body?" he asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Weird." Blaise laughed.

Looking across at him, I raised an eyebrow.

"You have no idea."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Blaise asked then, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"Sure, what?" I asked him.

"Malfoy wouldn't let his girlfriend sit with her friends. He'd hog her all to himself." Blaise explained with a grin.

"Oh great." I muttered, before frowning and looking at him with furrowed eyebrows. "If that's true, why did you tell him to leave?"

"Because. That's just what I do." Blaise shrugged, looking at me as if I'd grown another head before rolling his eyes and walking into the classroom, leaving me by myself.

With a sigh, I walked in as well and scanned around for Draco. Seeing him attempting to escape from sitting with Ella and muttering something to her in annoyance, I walked over quickly. Tapping him on the shoulder, I smirked as he spun around in shock.

Facing Ella, I said, "I hope you don't mind that I want to sit with my girlfriend. You don't? Oh good."

Draco's face was priceless. Quite plainly, he was in awe.

Grabbing his arm, I pulled him to the desk just in front of Ella and sat down, forcing him into the seat beside me. Blaise, who I hadn't realised had been standing just inside the door to wait and see what I was going to do, walked past me and sat down beside Ella.

"Why are you sitting there?" Ella asked in shock, tearing her eyes away from Malfoy and I.

"So that I can keep an eye on Malfoy." he said bluntly, slamming his book on the desk.

"Oh." she frowned.

Turning my attention back to Draco, I realised he was still staring at me.

"What is your problem? You're making me nervous." I hissed at him, pulling my own book out and trying to avoid his eyes.

"I just didn't expect you to pull that off, that's all." he finally said, turning away and getting his book.

"Surprise, surprise." I said with a small smile.


	10. Because I'm me and that's what I do

The days passed quickly for a while, blurring into each other as I kept up the act of being Malfoy. I had been back to visit the cabinet a few times to see if there was anything I could do, but so far I didn't have a clue how I was going to be able to fix it.

Something else had come to my attention, however, and I was honestly pretty worried about it. I had spotted Blaise and Ella talking to each other a lot more often lately – ever since that Potions lesson – and I really wanted to know what they were talking about.

Seeing as I had told Blaise my real identity I was worried about him telling Ella and then Ella telling Malfoy, who would then get really mad at me for telling Blaise.

Did that make sense?

Anyway, it had been just over a week since I told Blaise who I was and I was currently standing outside on the quidditch pitch, in my quidditch clothes and surrounded by the rest of the Slytherin team. It was time to practise for the match that was in five days and this time I couldn't get out of it.

The last two practise sessions I had managed to escape with Blaise's help, pretending to be really ill one time and... hiding, for the other one. Blaise covered for me when I hid, telling them something I still don't know. He hasn't told me.

But this time all I could do was show up and hope I wouldn't look like a complete and total idiot when I finally got onto the broom.

Blaise stood beside me, glancing over at me every few minutes to make sure I wasn't freaking out too terribly. Thank you, I need someone to look out for me.

"Dracoooooooooo!"

Wincing and turning to look over my shoulder, I saw Pansy waving from the bleachers. She looked so excited I was amazed she hadn't fainted yet. I still didn't know how Malfoy managed to live with that kind of adoration every day of his life – although he probably loved it.

"Alright, let's go," Flint snapped finally after detailing what tactics we were to use in this match. I hadn't really been paying attention, unfortunately.

Everyone began swinging their legs over their brooms and pushing into the air, so I decided I should do the same thing. Mounting the broom and gently pushing off from the ground, I glanced around to see what everyone else was doing to manoeuvre in the air.

In the next moment, Blaise flew alongside me and grinned slightly.

"Be one with the broom," he said quietly so that no one else could hear us. "Lean the way you want to go and it should work. Do everything gently. Most of the time you should be okay just flying around the pitch pretending to search for the snitch, okay? You'll be fine."

In the next instant he had flown off again and I bit my lip, tightening my grip on the handle of the broom and leaning forward ever-so-slightly.

It was moving.

Yes! I rock! Go me! I can fly-

Straightening quickly as the broom began to go too fast, I found myself shooting up into the sky.

Yay! Not.

Mayday! Mayday!

Trying to remember Blaise's words, I did my best to level the broom off again and succeeded in doing so once I was well-above the other Slytherin team members.

I hovered in the air and glanced down, blinking in horror at the great height. This was why I had never tried to learn how to fly in the first place. I'm not very co-ordinated and I don't like heights very much. You can see how this was a bad situation I'd gotten myself into, yes?

Thankfully, though, no one had noticed anything out of the ordinary. The Slytherins were already going through the motions of a match and throwing the quaffle around while also dodging the bludgers which came hurtling at them every now and then.

Deciding to risk moving again, I tilted forward slightly and smiled as my broom began moving forward. If I was going to keep up the act of being Malfoy I had to at least circle the pitch as Blaise had said, pretending to look for the snitch.

So far, so good.

Once I was certain I was getting the hang of it and wasn't about to fall off, I allowed my eyes to wander again. The game below me seemed to be going fairly well and Blaise seemed to be a pretty good Chaser from what I could see.

Chancing a look at the bleachers where Pansy was sitting, I rolled my eyes at her dazed expression as her eyes stared blankly up into the sky at my general direction. She was so obvious that I was surprised she hadn't given up after realising Malfoy wasn't interested in her.

Then something else caught my eye and I gasped in surprise, my broom jerking for a split second before I got it under control again. Ella and Malfoy had just arrived in some of the bleachers and were watching the game.

Oooookay. Why?

I could understand why Malfoy would be here as he probably wanted to know how badly I was ruining his reputation, but Ella? What lie had Malfoy told her in order to get her to come? Had he simply continued on with the lie that he and I were dating so he wanted to watch me play?

Either way, at least I was doing okay so there wasn't anything he could yell at me for.

"Malfoy, head in the game!"

Blinking and looking down to try and figure out why I was being yelled at already, I gasped in surprise as I saw a bludger hurtling towards me. What was I supposed to do? If I tried to out-fly it I'd fall off my broom for sure, but if I just stayed put I'd end up in the hospital wing!

Yeah, there wasn't really a choice involved. I had to fly.

So, not knowing what I was doing and letting out a scream for my life, I leaned forward on my broom and shot off in the air, hoping desperately that I would live to see another day. And the day after that.

The world flashed past me at an incredible speed and it was all I could do to hold on and hope that the bludger wasn't about to slam into me with all of its might. I didn't doubt that Malfoy was probably cursing me from down in the bleachers but hey, it wasn't my fault! I'd avoided quidditch practice for as long as I could!

In the midst of all this, I did manage to think that now would be a great time for Blaise to swoop in and save me. Especially since he knew about me and my uncoordinated self. So uh. Yeah. That's all.

Then I fell. Because I'm me, of course, and that's what I tend to do.

See, the only previous experience I had of being on a broom was when I was about seven years old and my father insisted it was loads of fun. What happened then was pretty similar to this situation as I started off holding tightly out of fear, then my body decided to commit suicide and made me let go.

So that's why I wasn't surprised to find myself hurtling towards the ground in this situation. In fact, there was even a brief moment when I simply forgot the horror of it all and just rolled my eyes.

When I got back to screaming again, however, the thud I was expecting to feel when I hit the ground didn't come.

I know, right, you were all probably expecting that.

What you're probably _not_ expecting, is to hear that Malfoy caught me.

Yeah. I know.

…

But he did. Because apparently he grabbed another spare broom from the shed before going up to the bleachers with Ella and when he saw the bludger start chasing me he got up right away and shot off into the air to save the day.

In my body.

So, obviously, when he caught me he wasn't expecting to feel so weak. Yes, that's right. I'm not the strongest person in the world, okay? But yes, the next part I'm sure you _can_ imagine again. Malfoy and I tumbled the rest of the short distance down to the ground and I landed on him, by now laughing my head off at how funny we must look.

I mean, to everyone else, Malfoy just got caught by a girl after screaming because he was chased by a bludger.

It's funny, alright? Just laugh with me.

"Get off me, Hunter," Malfoy hissed quietly from where he lay on the grass below me. Still laughing, I shook my head.

"I've never had so much fun in my life!" I exclaimed.

"Get. Off. Me."

"What's your problem?" I asked him, trying to calm down so I could see what was making him so angry. Then I remembered that it was _his_ reputation which had been punctured and I promptly rolled away as fast as I could, not wanting to risk being punched.

He quickly got up onto his feet and dusted himself off, ignoring the looks that the rest of the Slytherin quidditch team were giving him – they had all landed – and then stalked off the pitch towards Ella.

"What on earth just happened?" Flint demanded to know.

"I fell off my broom," I shrugged.

"I got that much," he rolled his eyes. "Why on earth did that girl catch you? Are the rumours actually true that you're going out with her?"

Noticing that everyone was waiting eagerly for my response – except for Blaise, who was standing at the back of the group trying really hard not to burst out laughing – I squared my shoulders and prepared to give them an answer.

"Yes, we are," I said. "But who knows how long it'll last? I mean, girls are so needy."

Hopefully that would sound like a Malfoy thing to say, because even though I had just flown around the pitch screaming like a girl and, for all visual purposes, been caught by a girl, I still wanted to _attempt_ to save Malfoy's reputation.

"Since when can Hunter fly on a broom anyway?" Flint asked with a scoff, turning to one of the other guys on the team.

"You know my name?" I squeaked. Flint fixed a frown in my direction and I gaped, realising what I'd just said.

Seriously, I'd been in Malfoy's body how long already and _still_ couldn't pull it off completely? What was wrong with me?

"Her name, is _obviously_ what I meant to say," I coughed awkwardly.

"Go get some rest, Malfoy," Flint said slowly. "We'll have another practice tomorrow but right now you obviously need to rest up." Taking a step towards me and lowering his voice, he added, "I understand your task is probably getting to you, but it can't affect the way you perform in the match, understood?"

Exactly _how_ many people know about Malfoy's task!

"Perfectly," I replied.

"Good, now go," Flint said, waving a hand at me and turning back to the rest of the team.

Gulping, I ran from the pitch as fast as I could.


End file.
